1. Field
This application relates to apparatus and methods for winding coils and dispensing coils after they are wound. More particularly, this application relates to an apparatus and methods for resetting a coil winding apparatus between windings of coils.
2. State of the Art
U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,922 to Taylor describes the winding of flexible wire, cable or filamentary material (hereinafter “wire”, which is to be broadly understood in the specification and claims) around a mandrel in a figure-eight pattern such that a package of material is obtained having a plurality of layers surrounding a central core space. By rotating the mandrel and by controllably moving a traverse that guides the wire laterally relative to mandrel, the layers of the figure-eight pattern are provided with aligned holes (cumulatively a “pay-out hole”) such that the inner end of the flexible material may be drawn out through the payout hole. When a package of wire is wound in this manner, the wire may be unwound through the payout hole without rotating the package, without imparting a rotation in the wire around its axis (i.e., twisting), and without kinking. This provides a major advantage to the users of the wire. Coils that are wound in this manner and dispense from the inside-out without twists, tangles, snags or overruns are known in the art as REELEX (a trademark of Reelex Packaging Solutions, Inc.)-type coils. REELEX-type coils are wound to form a generally short hollow cylinder with a radial opening formed at one location in the middle of the cylinder. A payout tube may be located in the radial opening and the end of the wire making up the coil may be fed through the payout tube for ease in dispensing the wire.
A REELEX model D2000 coiling machine (manufactured by Reelex Packaging Solutions, Inc.) is available to wind wire into REELEX-type coils. The machine has a set of mandrels that alternate positions between a winding position and a packaging position. The coil is wound in the winding position and a finished coil is moved off a mandrel to be packaged in the packaging position. The positions are alternated by a rotating turret to which the mandrels are attached. Between the winding of each coil, a resetting process is performed to ready the machine to wind another coil. Generally, the process includes: cutting a supply wire used in making a first wound coil at an end of the coil; grabbing a free end of supply wire; and handing off the free end of the supply wire to the mandrel as the beginning of a new coil to be wound.
The D2000 machine uses a “cutter/grabber” device that is supported below the cutter/grabber on linear rails of a support structure which can move the cutter/grabber in three orthogonal directions. The cutter/grabber device is configured to cut wire and grab cable. When a first coil on a mandrel is finished winding, the cutter/grabber moves to a cut position and cuts the wire to separate the coil from the supply wire, and the grabber captures the free end of the supply wire. The mandrel, being a two part assembly, separates so that an outer portion moves axially away from an inner portion that retains the coil. Next, the cutter/grabber moves out of the way of the coil and the inner portion of the mandrel, which is mounted on a rotating turret. Then, the turret rotates in a horizontal plane to exchange positions with an empty inner mandrel portion. Then, the cutter/grabber moves back toward the empty inner mandrel portion to deliver the wire to be grabbed by the inner mandrel portion. Once the inner mandrel portion captures the wire (a “hand-off”) the cutter/grabber releases the wire and moves out of the way of the mandrel so that the outer portion of the mandrel can be joined with the inner portion of the mandrel to form a complete mandrel to begin spinning for coiling wire. The resetting process takes about six to seven seconds, which is about ten percent of the total time of winding the coil. Such a relatively lengthy process impacts the throughput of the coiling machine.